Obama’s aunt back in Boston for deportation hearing

President Obama’s aunt, a Kenyan immigrant who ignited controversy last year for living in the United States illegally, has returned to her quiet apartment in a Boston public housing complex to prepare for an April 1 deportation hearing.

When her case emerged in the waning days of the presidential race last year, Zeituni Onyango, a tall, frail-looking woman in her late 50s who walks with a cane, fled the media attention to stay with relatives in Cleveland.

She attended Obama’s inauguration in January and, according to neighbors, returned to Boston a few weeks ago for her third attempt to fight removal from the United States. She had been living in the country illegally since she was ordered deported in 2004.

Onyango is a half-sister of the president’s late father, Barack Obama Sr., who was absent most of Obama’s life and who died in a car accident in 1982. The president met his aunt during a trip to Kenya and included her in his 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” but has said he was unaware of her immigration issues.

Now the woman Obama called “Auntie Zeituni” is in a national spotlight, where she is being seen as a test for the president’s commitment to enforcing immigration laws.

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Obama's aunt back in Boston for deportation hearing
boston.com